• by Joe Mandese , June 11, 2026

Actually, it's the incremental amount of political ad spending in AdImpact's just-released revised update for the 2025-26 election cycle.

“Current spending is pacing well ahead of previous years, with multiple record-breaking races already concluded and early pre-booking numbers indicating spending will remain strong through the campaign season,” Senior Vice President of Data John Link explains of AdImpact's decision to boost the cycle's forecasting spending to $11.6 billion -- up 7.4% from its previous $10.8 billion projection.

“As the fallout of redistricting plays out, we expect that the remaining competitive seats will draw more concentrated spending than ever," he adds.

In case you're keeping track, that means this mid-term cycle's spending has expanded 30% from AdImpact's estimate for the 2021-22 midterm cycle, not adjusting for inflation.

You can read the complete report, including current tallies for all the major down-ballot election campaigns here, but I'll leave you with this graphic from the report to remind you what's at stake.